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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 18,
2014, Vol. 14, No. 162
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Our readers' opinions
Costa Rica's almost impossible challengeDear A.M. Costa Rica: There were two apparently unrelated articles in your recent news columns, which will prove to be related. Firstly, you reported that President Solis plans to crack down on tax evasion and secondly that he plans to raise employment. Most folk would applaud the idea that, if we must have taxes, then they should be collected fairly from all those who are due to pay them. In Costa Rica, the U.S. and most other countries, the rich often legally evade taxes. Here they also illegally evade them on a grand scale. The problem is that, in macro economic terms, collecting more taxes acts as a brake on the economy. It slows down economic activity and reduces employment. A good example, that affects many expats, is the drive to collect Caja payments from employers of domestic help. This pushes up the cost of employing help. Some will reduce their hiring, causing a rise in unemployment. I am not arguing that the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social payments should not be made, merely explaining the consequences. Also, if more of your money is taxed, then you have less to spend. Spending less puts the people out of work who produce the goods and services that you buy. The newly unemployed will also spend less multiplying the problem. The other result from an increase in tax collections is that it gives big government an excuse for not cutting back on the bloated bureaucracy, as it now has more funding. This is likely to put much of the pressure from greater tax collection on the productive private sector. To avoid all this bad news, the government should ensure that planned reductions in bureaucracy and public sector employment coincide with efforts to stimulate private sector employment. In enforcing existing tax laws, it needs to reduce the level of taxation to avoid reducing economic activity and employment. It must be especially careful about taxing labor. High labor taxes have already driven large international employers to up sticks and move to lower-cost countries. Doing these things have proved near impossible for most governments around the world. In this country, where corruption and tax evasion are widespread, it is a real challenge. Good luck to the president. He needs it. Chris Clarke,
Grecia Recycling seen as trash solution Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
The new Solis government, faced with high unemployment and deficits from the previous administration, should be looking at ways to shore up two of its biggest industries — tourism and real estate, by making the country a more attractive place to visit/live, instead of killing these geese that have been laying the golden eggs by directly levying stifling new taxes on them. A way for Costa Rica to get started in that direction would be to live up to its self-billed moniker as being green. With the 22 illegal landfills reported on the other day, it shows that the trash problem is way out of hand. A bottle bill law would generate enough income for the government to start dealing with their trash problem. One way would be to recycle all the plastic bottles that can be made into finished products. One such product already being made are reusable shopping bags made from 100 percent recycled plastic. Just think, the bags could be sold cheaply to anyone with a cédula, while the government either puts a tax on the plastic bags normally handed out free at the supers, or even better: Bans them outright. Ticos would quickly change their habits if they had to start paying for bags every time they shop. If Solis aims to stem the bleeding that the new tax initiative has started, then he needs to improve conditions for both real estate and tourism to thrive. Creating new industry that comes with jobs, while cleaning up the trash problem would be a good place to start. Hari Singh Khalsa
Cóbano Caja needs to reinvent itself Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
Here is a plan to help the Caja. First implement a moderate office visit fee, not so much to raise revenues rather to discourage mothers and older folks from running to the clinics for every little thing, as its natural to many to abuse what is perceived as free. Stop over medicating. As a matter of routine, often drugs are dispensed when unnecessary, especially blood pressure medicine. Many Ticos have a mini pharmacy of Caja drugs at home that they are willing to share with you and your ills. Most of these drugs go unused and expire. Doctors must not be quick to hand out drugs to justify their job. Next is a change of image and purpose by offering preventative care and health education. Health education enabled me to normalize my blood pressure without drugs by eliminating most oils, large portions of meat and most dairy products and salt from my diet, then adding salads and physical activity. Each clinic could be a health facility offering exercise classes: a community meeting place focused on preventative care, a place to socialize and get healthy where completion of health classes and participation in exercise classes result in lower individual health care fees. This could be as simple and entertaining as watching popular health programs such as "Doctor Oz," and then discussing how to apply the information and bringing in local health enthusiasts, such as yoga teachers, etc. The Caja should be recognized as a resource for emergency care and major medical problems, with more resources focused on serious illnesses and injury, rather than a resource used for colds, aches and pains. In short, just as many producers are offering products with reduced quantity, so, too, the Caja needs to do so by instating an office visit fee to discourage minor care, and stop over medicating. Then reinvent itself as a preventative medicine and health education center locally, and a resource for major health care regionally. Let the consumer pick up the tab for comfort drugs and hand holding. Out of control Caja fees are leading to exorbitant pay for administrators and doctors, as the pool of faceless money from high health care fees increase, so, too, do doctor and administrator pay. Without an adjustment to the reality of the times we will see more increases in fees and continued misdirected resources. Phil Baker
Costa Rica
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 162 | |
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| Buyer beware seems
to be the correct slogan for expats and tourists here |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Recent complaints about prices in Costa Rica has drawn responses suggesting that there are ways to avoid being clobbered. Even Costa Ricans are getting into the discussion because they said they believe high prices hurt tourism. Facebook contains one bill from the Player's Club Ltda. at Daniel Oduber airport in Liberia. Four persons, perhaps a family, sat down at the cafe Thursday and two ordered coffee. One latte cost 4,500 colons or about $8.25. and a small regular coffee cost 2,500 colons (about $4.60), according to the bill. Four chocolate cookies cost 9,000 colons, said the bill. That's about $16.50. On top of the 16,000 colon total, the firm added the legally required sales tax (1,080 colons) and the 10 percent service charge or obligatory tip to the waiter for 1,600 colons. The final bill was 19,680 colons, which the cafe translated to be $39.36. Many tourism locations present the bill in both colons and U.S. dollars. In this case, the cafe used a 500-colon-to-the-dollar exchange rate when the current rate Thursday was 533. Many tourism locations establish their own exchange rate more profitable than the bank rate. A number of Costa Ricans jumped on the cafe and were critical of such a welcome to tourists. But they only have limited information. The same is true with most restaurants and stores. The various rental contracts might required large kickbacks to landlords or other high charges for doing business. For example, currency exchange locations at airports always maintain unfavorable rates, but their rents are astronomical. A former resident who complained initially about the cost of food said he paid about 70,000 colons for a dinner for two. But simple math shows that two main dishes for 8,000 colons each and a few drinks can easily bring a bill to that level. Part of the reason is the 13 per cent sales tax and the 10 percent mandatory service charge. Some restaurants even apply the service charge if a takeout customer sits at a table while the food is prepared. A long-time resident wrote and was critical of the critics. He said there were plenty of restaurants with reasonable prices. He listed Restaurante Beso in Sabana Sur with its $5.50 buffet, Yorgos Peruvian International Restaurant in Rohrmoser with an average price of $15 per person, Restaurant Maxi in Santa Ana with "great Caribbean food average price per person $15 included beer," and Taco Bar Buffet in Escazú, Santa Ana, Tres Rios and Jacó with "$3 breakfast and lunch, dinner with all you can eat . . . salad bar starting with fish or chicken tacos about $6." Even at an upscale restaurant like the Restaurante Magnolia at the Club Casino Colonial downtown has prices printed on the menu. A diner can leave well-fed after consuming a mountain of arroz con pollo for 3,500 colons (about $6.50). A dinner for four can be had for less than four cookies and coffee at the Daniel Oduber airport. |
 A.M. Costa Rica graphic
The high price must have been
the carameloThe long-time resident also cited a report that consumer prices in San José are 26.96 percent lower than in Toronto. He also noted that residents here do not have to pay for heat in the winter. The late A.M. Costa Rica columnist Jo Stuart was an expert of frugality. She did not have a vehicle and took buses all over. She also patronized the weekend farmer markets where prices are far less than at the local supermarkets. Of course, supermarket prices are enough to curl the hair. A box of imported cereal can be $4 or $5, about double the cost up north. President Laura Chinchilla did not do shoppers any favors when she ordered the sales tax applied to all but the most basic foods. Frugality implies prudence in spending. Saturday there were cans of German and Polish beer on sale at Walmart for 450 colons, less than half the price of other brands. Expats here quickly learn the joys of guaro over those of Johnny Walker (18,000 colons a liter). They also learn the savings of going to a supermarket where working people shop instead of at a mall or in a high-rent neighborhood. Then there are the personal preferences. Air conditioning is pricey at the beach. And a condo shopper will pay close attention to insulation as well as air flow. Nearly everyone agrees that Costa Rica is not the place for the expat living on a $600-a-month Social Security check. That used to be possible, and immigration requirements were once set that low. Now immigration officials expect a pensionado family to spend $1,000 a month minimum. Yet, there are some advantages. Legal residents get the same price breaks as Costa Ricans in admission prices. Older expats and Costa Ricans also get deals on retail purchases. bus fares and medicine, not to mention the benefits of the health care at the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social facilities. |
| Country's kidney transplant detentions gets international
exposure |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The New York Times Sunday linked kidney transplants in Costa Rica with a ring of Israelis who were offering that kind of operation to their fellow citizens. In the past news stories here concentrated on the kidney recipients from the United States. In a news story in June 2013, A.M. Costa Rica reported on a U.S. citizen who died after receiving a kidney transplant here at the hands of Francisco Mora Palma, chief of nephrology at Hospital Calderón Guardia. The man who received the transplant was overweight, aging, in ill health and an unlikely candidate in the United States. Those conditions are believed to have contributed to his death. The Times explained that there are religious problems with obtaining transplants in Israel, so those who have the money look elsewhere. The Times said that Israelis were disproportionately involved as recipients. Mora, in an Internet promotion, said he had done 550 kidney transplants. The Times addresses about 11. Such transplants are illegal in many countries, including Costa Rica., if there is payment involved. The Times said that a local prosecutor said that charges are expected against Mora and three other physicians this month. Also facing a charge will be Dimosthenis Katsigiannis, the former operator of a pizza outlet near Hospital Calderón Guardia who is accused of |
spotting kidney
donors for transplant, said the newspaper. The Times said it had
access to confidential court documents. Prosecutors and investigators acted against organ transplants here after a report in a Mexican newspaper. The Times also credited a nurse at Hosptial Calderón Guardia who noted that equipment was being used at Hospital Hotel La Católica. Hospital Clinica Biblica also was the site of some transplants, it said. The Ministerio de Salud filed a complaint against organ transplants on the heels of the Mexican news report. Costa Rican law also says that transplants have to be done in accord with health ministry policies. The problem in Costa Rica is that there is not an efficient system helping those who need transplants. The Times interviewed briefly a young Costa Rican couple who flew to Israel so the woman could donate a kidney. They were rejected by Israeli immigration and had to return home. The Times called them protected witnesses. The newspaper also said that prosecutors are treating donors as victims in the case. In most cases, donors had signed documents that said they were surrendering a kidney for no compensation and for altruistic reasons. Although the facts of the cases here are well known, local officials are likely to react after the article in the prestigious newspaper. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 162 | |||||
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| Men stopped near La Reforma had matching .40-caliber pistols | |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Fuerza Pública officers seem to have frustrated a major crime over the weekend. But they are not sure what kind of crime. The agency's Grupo de Apoyo Operativo stopped a vehicle and found that the individuals within carried matching Glock .40-caliber semi-automatic pistols. Officers said that the traffic stop was close to the La Reforma prisons in San Rafael de Alajuela. Each of the firearms would sell for more than $500 in the United States and probably would cost much more here. An agent associated with the tax office authorized the confiscation of the weapons to determine if taxes had been paid on them. There was no indication that the vehicle occupants had permits to carry firearms. Police said that the men in the car also had a large quantity of bullets for the pistols and nine magazines. Police said they had no indication of what the men were planing to do and that the case has been referred to judicial investigators. Three of the men are Costa Rican, and the fourth is a Nicaraguan. |
 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Públcia photo
These
are not your usual street firearms.
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Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Aug. 18, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 162 | |||||||
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| Thieves raid ebola center and infected patients flee By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A group of young men armed with clubs, claiming that there's no ebola in Liberia, raided a quarantine center for the deadly disease in Monrovia overnight, prompting about 20 patients infected with the deadly virus to flee, a witness said Sunday. Liberian officials fear Ebola could soon spread through the capital's largest slum after the looters chased off ebola patients and took items including blood-stained sheets and mattresses. "They broke down the door and looted the place. The patients have all gone," said Rebecca Wesseh, who witnessed the attack and whose report was confirmed by residents and the head of Health Workers Association of Liberia, George Williams. Williams, said the unit housed 29 patients who "had all tested positive for ebola" and were receiving preliminary treatment before being taken to hospital. "Of the 29 patients, 17 fled last night (after the assault). Nine died four days ago and three others were yesterday taken by force by their relatives" from the center, he said. The violence in the West Point slum occurred late Saturday and was led by residents angry that patients were brought from other parts of the capital to the holding center, Tolbert Nyenswah, assistant health minister, said Sunday. The group also looted equipment and food from the facility, witnesses said. Liberian police restored order to the West Point neighborhood, which is home to an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 poor Liberians. Ebola has killed 1,145 people in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization, which added that Liberia has recorded more ebola deaths - 413 - than any of the other affected countries, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea. To try to control the ebola epidemic spreading through West Africa, Liberia has quarantined remote villages at the epicenter of the virus, evoking the plague villages of medieval Europe that were shut off from the outside world. With few food and medical supplies getting in, many abandoned villagers face a stark choice: stay where they are and risk death or skip quarantine, spreading the infection further in a country ill-equipped to cope. In Boya, in northern Liberia's Lofa County, Joseph Gbembo, who caught ebola and survived, said he is struggling to raise 10 children under 5 years of age and support five widows after nine members of his family died from the virus. He said he has received no food or health care for the children and no help from government officials. Aid workers said that if support does not arrive soon, locals in villages like Boya, where the undergrowth is already spreading among the houses, will simply disappear down jungle footpaths. "If sufficient medication, food and water are not in place, the community will force their way out to fetch food and this could lead to further spread of the virus," said Tarnue Karbbar, a worker for charity Plan International based in Lofa County. In the week ending Aug, 13, Lofa county recorded more new cases of ebola than anywhere else, 124 new cases of ebola and 60 deaths. World Health and Liberian officials have warned that, with little access by health care workers to the remote areas hidden deep in rugged jungle zones, the actual toll may be far higher. In Monrovia, which still bears the scars of the brutal 14-year civil war that ended in 2003, officials said controlling the situation in Lofa is crucial to overcoming the country's biggest crisis since the conflict. With her country under threat, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has imposed emergency measures including the community quarantine and a system of medical roadblocks to prevent the infection reaching cities, widely used against the black death in Medieval times. Troops have been deployed under operation White Shield to stop people from abandoning homes and infecting others in a country where the majority of cases remain at large, either because clinics are full or because they are scared of hospitals regarded as death traps. Liberia, one of the world's least developed nations, has poor Internet and telecommunications, and only about 50 doctors for a population of more than 4 million. In Liberia, families continue to hide their sick at home. Health workers and facilities have come under attack. Traditional funerals, where family members bathe and dress highly contagious corpses, have expedited ebola's spread to nine of the country's 15 counties. Neighbors Guinea and Sierra Leone have placed checkpoints in Gueckedou and Kenema, creating a cross-border quarantine zone of roughly 20,000 square kilometers, called the unified sector. Within this massive ring are areas where up to 70 percent of people are infected. "Access to these hot spots is now cut off except for medical workers," Liberia Information Minister Lewis Brown said in an interview this week. Saturday, President Sirleaf spent the day with education teams in communities around Monrovia, trying to answer people's questions about ebola and urge them to comply with containment measures. Hundreds of people turned out to listen and to ask questions. Missouri governor calls in National Guard to Ferguson By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The governor of Missouri has ordered the National Guard to the town of Ferguson after a week of sometimes violent protests sparked by the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer. The governor, Jay Nixon, authorized the deployment early Monday after another round of clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson. Sunday, police in body armor, gas masks and marching with armored vehicles fired tear gas in efforts to disperse a mob of mostly young people who tried marching toward them. A police official, Capt. Ron Johnson, said protesters threw Molotov cocktails and engaged in shootings, looting and vandalism. He said at least two protesters were wounded in the shootings. He said shots were also fired at police, but that no officers were wounded. Johnson described the violence as premeditated criminal acts designed to damage property, hurt people and provoke a response. He said police had to respond to protect lives and property. The violence took place several hours before a curfew began for the second straight night. The curfew took effect at midnight local time and runs until 5 a.m. Violent protests and looting in Ferguson have been almost nightly occurrences since the Aug. 9 death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Late Sunday, The New York Times reported that preliminary results from a private autopsy showed Michael Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head. The Times said the pathologist who performed the autopsy found one of the bullets entered the top of Brown's skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury. The pathologist said that could be because Brown was giving up, or because he was charging at the officer. Brown's family had requested the private autopsy. Sunday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said a federal medical examiner would perform another autopsy on Brown in accordance with the wishes of the Brown family and because of the extremely sensitive nature of the case. Local authorities have also performed an autopsy with the results yet to be released. Nixon said Sunday authorities would impose a curfew indefinitely in Ferguson where there have been almost nightly confrontations between police and protesters. Nixon has declared a state of emergency in Ferguson. President Barack Obama has been getting regular briefings on the Ferguson protests. Friday Ferguson police released reports they said showed Michael Brown was involved in a robbery and confrontation with a convenience store clerk shortly before he was shot and killed. Police tactics with crowds generate plenty of criticism By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Rubber bullets, tear gas, sniper rifles, armored vests, flash grenades: the military-style tactics used by Ferguson, Mo., police confronted by crowds angered about an unarmed teenager's killing have filled TV screens and front pages all week. They're nothing new, however, according to activists who warn that the tactics, along with recent deaths involving police in other cities, are indicative of a troubling trend among law enforcement agencies. “Anyone who studies American history will find that there has always been a national problem between law enforcement and its abusive tactics against people of color generally and poor people in particular,” said al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, president of the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York. The killing of the 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer last Saturday sparked the riots that gripped the St. Louis suburb on and off all week. They came just weeks after furor erupted in New York, when a plainclothes officer used a chokehold in an arrest of a man allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes. The man later died, a death the city coroner ruled was a homicide. The deaths are indicative of a crisis of trust between law enforcement and civilians, and it’s nothing new, Abdur-Rashid said. "Law enforcement still hasn’t gotten it right,” he said. In recent decades, police agencies have employed a theory of community policing known as broken windows. The theory says that police must show zero tolerance for smaller crimes, because they will lead to larger crimes if left unchecked. Critics of broken windows policing say it has led to overzealousness by police. Officers end up arresting civilians for minor infractions such as littering, playing music too loudly or drinking beer in public, rather than just warning them. New York City police officers also have a quota for arrests, said Robert Ganji, director of the Police Reform Organizing Project. “And what cops do under the quota system is arrest people because they don’t get credit for issuing a warning and having that take care of the problem," he said. "They don’t get credit if they break up a fight between two boys and send them home. They only get credit if they arrest two boys for assault.” Job pressure and fear can lead some police to regard people in higher crime and minority neighborhoods as potential troublemakers, not innocent citizens, Ganji said. That attitude makes for deep resentment within the community, bad morale for the police and lately, criticism by the general public, he said. Ganji said police he’s spoken with “say things like ‘I really don’t like this. I took this job because I want to help people. But if I focus on helping people, they’ll hang me’.” For people to complain when police use force, while appreciating the benefits a police force has brought them is hypocritical, argued Maki Haberfeld, a former officer who chairs the Department of Law and Police Science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "They’re not there to punish people who violate the law. But we do need to take it within the context that police officers interact with people who are violent, have violent pasts,” she said. Police make errors of judgment, sometimes fatal ones, she said. There, the blame lies with the lack of mandatory national training standards for police on when and how to use force appropriately. That’s a systemic failure, not a failure by individual police officers or police departments, Ms. Haberfield argued. “They don’t receive the right tools to police the way they are supposed to police,” she said. Experts cite other contributing factors: poverty, a lack of education, few jobs or economic opportunity. Obama returning briefly from Martha's Vineyard By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama, who is on a two-week vacation to Massachusetts with his family, was to return briefly to Washington for meetings, the White House said Sunday. While the White House did not say why Obama would need to attend unspecified meetings with Vice President Joe Biden and other advisers, The Associated Press reported that part of the decision appears aimed at countering criticism that Obama is spending two weeks on a resort island in the midst of so many foreign and domestic crises. USA Today reported that the president is expected to have meetings at the White House Monday and Tuesday, including national security sessions on the Iraq military operation. Last week, Obama addressed the nation from Martha’s Vineyard regarding U.S. military action in Iraq and the clashes between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri. He also called foreign leaders to discuss the tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the ebola crisis in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as between Israel and Hamas. Obama is scheduled to return to Martha's Vineyard on Tuesday and stay through next weekend. Texas governor preparing to fight his indictment By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is vowing to fight an indictment against him for abuse of power, saying the charge against him is a political move. Perry spoke Saturday, one day after a grand jury in the state capital, Austin, charged him with two felony counts: abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public official. The charges stem from a funding veto that was seen as being intended to force the resignation of a local district attorney. Perry said he has done nothing wrong and that the indictment amounts to nothing more than an abuse of power. He said the Texas Constitution gives the state's governor the power to veto items at his discretion. Perry said he used that authority to veto funding for an office he said had lost public confidence by acting inappropriately and unethically. Last year, Perry threatened to veto $7.5 million in funding for the state public integrity unit of the Travis County District Attorney's Office unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned following an arrest for drunken driving. Ms. Lehmberg is an influential Democrat, while Perry is a Republican. If Ms. Lehmberg had resigned, Perry would have appointed her replacement. Later, Perry carried out his threat. Ms. Lehmberg had pleaded guilty to drunk driving charges in 2013 and served time in jail. In the United States, a district attorney represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The individual may be elected or appointed and is the head of a jurisdiction's legal department. Perry has been making moves that indicate he is considering running for president in 2016. He has been Texas governor for 14 years, making him the longest-serving governor in Texas history. He does not plan to seek re-election. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Three die in early Sunday crash
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Three young Costa Ricans are dead after a car crashed early Sunday morning. A spokesman from the Judicial Investigating Organization said that the 35-year-old driver of the car is now in custody to face a drunk driving allegation. The judicial organization said a 21-year-old woman and two young men, aged 20 and 23, died at the scene of the wreck after their mid-size car collided with the rear of a sports utility vehicle around 3 a.m. on Puente La Valencia, a bridge over the Río Virilla in Heredia. After the collision, the vehicle slammed into a bridge abutment. Three people from the other vehicle were taken to an area hospital in stable condition, according to a report. Judicial agent held in beating By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Officers detained an agent from the Judicial Investigating Organization this weekend after they say he badly beat a man suspected of owing money, according to a Fuerza Pública report. The judicial agent was identified by the last name Baldi. Police said they followed Baldi and a friend, identified by the last name of Brenes, when they suddenly drove away from a police checkpoint. After they pulled the pair over, officers said the friend told them he was also a judicial agent but police failed to confirm that claim with a simple background check. At the same time, police received a call alerting them of a man who was beaten over the head and had been handcuffed. The report said it had to do with an apparent debt that a Nicaraguan man named López owed. Allan Obando, Fuerza Pública's regional director in the northern border area of Chorotega, confirmed Saturday that Baldi is an organization agent and that his gun and vehicle were confiscated after the arrest. Sámara man dies chasing thief By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 41-year-old man died early Sunday when he suffered a bullet wound as he tried to stop the robbery of a purse, said judicial investigators. The Judicial Investigating Organization identified the man by the last name of Gómez. Agents said the man was inside a bar in Sámara about 4:30 a.m. when someone tried to take the purse of a woman nearby. The victim chased the man outside the establishment and suffered the fatal wound there. |
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